The Knicks forward raced back, grabbed King James by the shoulder and threw him to the court in the third quarter. The packed house at Quicken Loans Arena booed lustily.

The very sight of James – and the Cavaliers – definitely have become a Knick “distraction,” as the Cavs superstar pointed out before the Knicks predictably got pummeled by Cleveland for the second time in eight days, this time by a humiliating, 118-82 count.

Holding court in the locker room before tip-off, James said this about his impending 2010 free agency: “It’s a distraction for the Knicks. It’s not a distraction for us. We’re good. It’s a distraction for those players.”

The Cavaliers (15-3) are very good and the backcourt-depleted Knicks are becoming very bad. Playing on the second night of a back-to-back, the Knicks lost Quentin Richardson to an ejection and fell two games below .500 for the first time this season at 8-10 as they started a stretch of seven of eight on the road.

James scored 21 points in 28 minutes with six assists. For the second straight Cavs’ rout over the Knicks, he lounged on the bench for the fourth quarter, with the rest of Cleveland’s starters.

“This is what you run into when you into a good team without any gas in your tank,” said coach Mike D’Antoni, whose club fell behind by 42 points in the fourth.

There’s a small possibility Harrington could be suspended for his action, nailed with a “flagrant 1” foul. That could be reviewed and changed to a “flagrant 2” worthy of a suspension – possible considering the famous crash victim.

The Knicks already were down 30 points, but Harrington didn’t want to be embarrassed with any more of James’ showboating.

“I didn’t want one of those embarrassing dunks,” Harrington said. “You know how strong he is. He’ll get right through and lay it up. Me and LeBron live next to each other in Vegas. Nothing personal.”

Already running on fumes, the last thing they need is for Harrington to be suspended for the Atlanta game tomorrow. And the last thing the Knicks needed last night was Richardson, who guards James, to get tossed in the first half for arguing after he felt James had fouled him.

Richardson, who knocked the banished Stephon Marbury for letting his teammates out to dry, left his club out to dry with the ouster.

“I’m disappointed, I got ejected and left my guys out there, limited and shorthanded,” Richardson said. “I apologized to my teammates and coaches.”

Richardson was tossed with 2:25 left in the first half, the Knicks already down 52-29, leaving them with seven players, not including unusable Jerome James.

“You usually get frustrated when you get tired,” D’Antoni said. “It’s hard to control your nerves when you’re just exhausted.”

There were tons of supportive James posters in the stands, including some with a New York slant. One read, “Not Your King.”

Yesterday, Forbes Magazine released its list of the value of NBA teams and the Knicks topped it for the fourth straight year at $613 million. But they looked like two cents last night, trailing 61-35 at half. A 16-0 second-quarter run ended the competition, the lead swelling from 12 to 28.

The Cavaliers have battered the Knicks by a combined 54 points in the two meetings. Chris Duhon, bothered by back spasms, led the brick brigade at 1-for-9.